Synchronicity: Facing Death

I had another of my little "SoulCollage Soirees" yesterday, when three friends joined me at home to do a reading and to make some cards. It was wonderful. There was healing, joy, trust, love there. I felt very blessed to be among such great women. I took photos of each person's crop of cards, but forgot to check if they'd be ok with my publishing them here, so I'll hold off on that for a few days, but there is something I want to share with you.

Today, I encountered a quote from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's "The Wheel of Life",

"When we have done all the work we were sent to Earth to do, we are allowed to shed our body, which imprisons our soul like a cocoon encloses the future butterfly. And when the time is right, we can let go of it and we will be free of pain, free of fears and worries-free as a very beautiful butterfly, returning home to God..."

-from a letter to a child with cancer.

Above is the card I made yesterday, which I named "Death/Rebirth transformation". I already have two death cards in my deck, and yet, I felt there was another to be made - one that really incorporates a sense of the rebirth that is right there at the moment of death. I was not thinking of that quote (although I have read the book, quite a few years ago), so imagine my surprise when I did read it today. The other death cards I've made are the two sides of the idea of death - one the "light" side, emphasising death as a "messenger of joy". The other is what I call the "shadow-side", the dark, fearful part of death. Others who have seen this card, however, have not felt that darkness to be threatening or scary. They have found it comforting too.

Perhaps the skeletal / mummified part of the new card is too stark an image to offer comfort. I don't know. I just know that it felt "right" to put these two together, that this card seems to be a synthesis of the feelings of the other two cards.

I made three other cards yesterday, but will share them another time. I'd be interested to have feedback on these cards. - Does the new card look like it would be comforting or reassuring to someone who is actually facing death?

[22/4/08 -- This post has been edited from its first version]